Splitscreen should make a comeback this generation (Gaming)

by MacAddictXIV , Seattle WA, Monday, November 23, 2020, 06:57 (1262 days ago) @ Cody Miller

The PS5 and Xbox Series X generation SHOULD be the glorious return of splitscreen. Think about it. With 4K the target, a 4 way splitscreen gives each person a 1080p image. Halo and Destiny are both promising 120fps crucible, which means a split screen 30fps lock is guaranteed, and a 60fps lock very likely.

The tech is here for an uncompromised splitscreen experience.

Well, resolution and fps means less to splitscreen than screen size. I have a 55 inch screen that is set on the other side of the room to my couch. If I split that in half then it gets harder to play. And I'm fortunate enough to have a nice TV, not many people probably do.

So I wonder why we aren't seeing it? Destiny doesn't support it. We don't know yet about Halo infinite, but I'm leaning towards no. Black Ops 5 only offers two player splitscreen. Why?

I honestly think the biggest hinderence to split screen is the player UI, or HUD. Games, especially FPSers have gotten more complicated and thus the need for more UI to define what is happening to the character. If you suddenly took that away, you lose a lot how you play effectively. Bungie probably spends waaaaay to much time figuring out the perfect UI configuration. Now imagine if the UI designer said hey, lets scrunch that into half a screen. Now, the UI that normally would take up maybe 1/5 of the screen takes up half of the screen or is so small that it's harder to figure out what they mean.

Because of this I think splitscreen has been pushed to a more party type games or less serious FPS games like borderlands.

I'm not saying it can't be done, but it's a lot of work to get the couch experience, especially if it's not built from the start.

I also have to mention the Elephant in the room, COVID. I doubt anyone wants to try and sell splitscreen in this kind of an environment. It would be marketing suicide.

I realize that a lot of you here may not have played splitscreen in… well a long time. Maybe it's not important to you. But I think it would be a shame to have a generation of young people for whom playing games with friends means alone in a room with your headset. I think it would be a shame if parents couldn't play with their kids.

Don't take my comments above to say I am against splitscreen. I love splitscreen games. I have a buddy that I would play through games with and just shoot the breeze. He isn't a huge gamer (or wasn't at the time), but then I started him on Borderlands splitscreen and we had a blast.

I think this is where we should be using the power of these new consoles. Maybe they could create a resurgence of IRL play in this increasingly interconnected and isolated world.

So honestly, I don't think the console itself has anything to do with it. We could have been doing it for any console generation.